Local Joe

by James Reza      

     The sharply brisk December breeze finds a way to cut straight through your wool coat.   As a shiver runs up your spine, you duck quickly into your car and start it, only to wait impatiently for the engine to warm up enough for the heater to start working.  Winter weather is upon us.

     If you are like me, you like to warm up with a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee.  What you may not be aware of, however, is the growing number of coffees being roasted right here in Tulsa.  This winter, when you feel the need to warm yourself with a cup of joe, set your sights on one of these home town roasts.

Hoot Owl Coffee Co.

     When I received my first bag of Hoot Owl coffee, it was delivered to my door still warm from the roasting.  It was recommended that I wait 72 hours or so before I started grinding and brewing.  I may have cracked open that bag a little earlier than I was supposed to, but it was still one of the most incredible coffee drinking experiences of my life.

     Founded in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma in 2010, Hoot Owl places an overwhelming amount of focus on social consciousness, as well as delectable coffee.  They participate in Direct Trade with their coffee farmers, ensuring that their farmers are paid far more than normal market prices for their top quality beans.  In addition to this, Hoot Owl donates one pound of food to a local food bank for every pound of coffee sold.

     However, Hoot Owl is much more than a charity organization.  Founders Ashley and Andrew Unruh have gone to great lengths to ensure that they offer not only some of the highest quality beans available, but also some of the most unusual.  Additionally, Hoot Owl roasts all of its beans by means of the air roasting method, where the beans are gently roasted by hot air rather than cooked by metal or ceramic surfaces as in the far more common barrel roasting method.  This allows some of the more unique characteristics of each type of bean to be expressed more clearly.  Unfortunately, in my experience, it also results in the beans having a heightened sensitivity to temperature, light, and moisture, and therefore stricter shelf-life guidelines. 

      Hoot Owl Coffee is available at Oklahoma City and Tulsa area Whole Foods Market locations, Fresh Market, www.hootowlcoffee.com, and soon will be available at the Hoot Owl Coffee Shop, opening in early 2015.

Topeca Coffee Roasters

      Topeca coffee was my introduction to the world of gourmet coffee.  I distinctly remember the first time I set foot in their Mayo Hotel location and took in the aromas of a much higher quality coffee than I was accustomed to.  Years later, Topeca is still going strong.

      While Topeca was technically founded in El Salvador in the mid-19^th century, it was not until 2001 that they became the company we know them as today.  Before 2001, Topeca sold its beans to other distributors, like many other farms.  Topeca changed their business model when the market price of coffee beans fell dramatically, bypassing the distributors and taking their beans all the way to the end consumer. 

      Today, Topeca Coffee Roasters is one of the only companies that controls their coffee from the farm all the way to the consumer, a model that Topeca refers to as “Seed-To-Cup”. Imported from coffee farms owned and managed by Topeca itself and roasted right here in Tulsa, Topeca beans are truly something special.

      Topeca coffee is available at Whole Foods Market locations, select Reasor’s locations, Petty’s Fine Foods, JoeBot’s Coffee Bar in the Blue Dome district, and Topeca’s own coffee shops, located in the Mayo Hotel, The Downtown Hyatt, the Heirloom Baking Company, and Hodge’s Bend.

Doubleshot Coffee Company

      The unsung local hero in the scene of locally roasted coffee, Doubleshot Coffee maintains the strongest convictions and dedication to the freshest possible coffee.  Having served as the inspiration for a snobby coffee bar on the sketch comedy show Portlandia, Doubleshot’s attention to detail may come across as pretentious at times, but rest assured their high standards are nothing more than the consequence of a deep love for coffee.

      Brian Franklin founded Doubleshot in Tulsa in 2004, after having travelled the world to gain first-hand knowledge and experience with coffee beans, and to seek out farms with standards that match his own.  To this Day, Franklin continues to travel, expanding his craft and bringing what he has learned back home to Tulsa.  Franklin has served as roastmaster for Doubleshot since its inception.

      All Doubleshot coffee is roasted at 18^th and Boston, in a beautifully restored coffee roaster built in Italy in 1953. 

      Doubleshot Coffee is available from their website, www.doubleshotcoffee.com, or from their shop and roast site, located at 1730 S Boston in Tulsa.